Apparently, St. Charles Easts girls basketball team didnt take its 74-49 loss to Batavia earlier this month too kindly.

Just 18 days later, the Saints (13-11, 8-3) made a remarkable 38-point improvement in their position following a 79-66 Upstate Eight Conference River Division triumph over the Bulldogs (15-9, 6-4) Saturday night in St. Charles.

They took it to us the first time and the girls remembered that, said Saints coach Lori Drumtra, whose team stayed within a game of conference co-leaders Geneva and Streamwood heading into the final week of the UEC River season.

We honestly didnt feel like we played well in that first game and they played very well, added Drumtra. We just wanted to play our game on our homecourt.

The Saints game consisted of pushing the ball down the court, setting screens and letting shots fly from the outside.

This is the real Saints team, said Hilton, who added 5 assists. We came out ready to go tonight and got a win that was really important to us. Our shots were falling.

The Saints also received a superb all-around performance from 5-5 sophomore guard Katie Claussner, who had 20 points, a game-high 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.

Ive kind of been waiting for that to happen, Drumtra said of Claussner, who also connected on three 3-pointers. She didnt start out the season in the starting lineup but things have changed. I knew she was capable of it.

Shes a good ballhandler, she hits the boards hard, and she gets her hands up (on defense), added the coach. It was nice to see and I think thats going to give her some confidence.

I just wanted to come out and show myself, said Claussner. We lost one of our starters (Laney Deckrow to a concussion against Streamwood last week) so it was my time to step up.

Batavia junior guard Liza Fruendt (21 points) hit her first 4 shots from the field during a 12-point opening quarter that featured a combined seven 3-pointers, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 22-18 lead.

But the Saints answered with a 25-12 second-quarter surge, keyed by 11 points from Hilton, to grab a 43-34 halftime advantage.

Hilton and Claussner each drained a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, as the red-hot Saints made 12 of 19 field-goal attempts  5 of 6 from beyond the arc  while extending their lead to 64-47.

We pushed the ball a lot and got easy points out of that, said Hilton. We found the open girl.

It definitely felt good, said Drumtra. Going into the last couple weeks, you want to be playing with this kind of energy.

Erin Bayram added 12 points and 6 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who recently received the fifth seed (St. Charles East is seeded 11th) for the upcoming Class 4A regional tournament at St. Charles East.

Quite frankly tonight it looked like they were the team that should be ranked ahead of us, said Batavia coach Kevin Jensen.

We didnt do the things we worked on all week to prepare for this, added Jensen. We didnt defend ball screens or screens off the ball the way we worked on them. We just didnt play well. East played real well tonight.